Bodie Island (correctly pronounced "body" but often pronounced with a long "o" by those unfamiliar with the correct pronunciation) is a long, narrow barrier peninsula that forms the northernmost portion of the Outer Banks. The land that is most commonly referred to as Bodie Island was at one time a true island, however the inlet separating it from the Currituck Banks peninsula in the north closed. As a result, the Currituck Banks and Bodie Island are now one contiguous peninsula, joined together at the Nags Head area, where the inlet once flowed. Today, either name can be used to refer to peninsula as a whole, but both portions colloquially retain their historical names.
From the southern tip at Oregon Inlet, the peninsula stretches largely northwest out of North Carolina and into Virginia Beach, Virginia to join the mainland at Sandbridge near the north shore of Back Bay. The entire peninsula is approximately 72 miles in length, following the shoreline.
Read more about Bodie Island: Places of Interest, History, Localities
Famous quotes containing the word island:
“We crossed a deep and wide bay which makes eastward north of Kineo, leaving an island on our left, and keeping to the eastern side of the lake. This way or that led to some Tomhegan or Socatarian stream, up which the Indian had hunted, and whither I longed to go. The last name, however, had a bogus sound, too much like sectarian for me, as if a missionary had tampered with it; but I knew that the Indians were very liberal. I think I should have inclined to the Tomhegan first.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)